This didn’t start out as a light painting shoot. My friend Andrew wanted to get some long exposure shots of planes taking off so we ventured down to the airport near sunset. Before the sun went down, we took a few shots at Iona Beach. The beach wasn’t particularly interesting, so as the sun was going down I decided to try out the variable ND filter I purchased. First time I have ever used an ND filters, but it was a day of firsts so why not. Here are a couple of shots, looks like it could be fun and the effect can’t be duplicated any other way. And here is Andrew setting up for a sunset shot. The sun finally set so we...

Today I paid my first visit to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary located near Ladner, BC. It’s a great spot to spend a few hours and I’ll definitely go back more than once to see what species of birds visit this park. Cost is $5 to get in, well worth it. Here are some of my photos from the day. My first shot was actually taken in the parking lot, this girl was walking around in the grass right behind my truck (Mallard Duck). Not sure what this guy is, someone needs to help me identify it. Napping while standing on one foot, showoff (Canada Goose). I think this is a Northen Pintail, beautiful birds. Just a common...

Back in December 2011, I had to travel to the UK on business. I took the opportunity to route my flight through Amsterdam instead of London and I had to pleasure of spending an afternoon in this great European city. I’m finally getting around to posting some of the photos I took during my short stay. I definitely need to go back and spend more time in this city, it was a lot of fun. Most of the photos here were shot while on a photo tour with Photo Tours of Amsterdam. I booked this tour after reading positive reviews on Trip Advisor. Things didn’t start well as my flight was delayed. Rather than arriving at 8:00am which...

Another set of dogs from Vancouver Animal Control, you can see others here. As always, you can see the animals available for adoption from this shelter by visiting their PetFinder page or just drop in at the shelter. The little husky puppies are still there, and still cute. The first dog today was Root Beer, a very active but loving young pit bull. At one point go got a case of the zoomies. This girl likes to lean on you while getting some attention, I don’t think she knows how big she is. Coming in for my close up. A young shih tzu, very playful. This guy looks grumpy, is missing a...

Another set of dogs from Vancouver Animal Control, you can see others here. As always, you can see the animals available for adoption from this shelter by visiting their PetFinder page or just drop in at the shelter. My favorite dog of the day, this hyper little puppy Spotz. He can’t sit still for more than two seconds, so it’s amazing I got any decent photos of him at all. This one seems a bit sad, like he is waiting for someone to come and adopt him. Coming in for my closeup :) Monty, he likes to give hugs. Give me a hug. Finally, the two little husky puppies. One has freckles on her nose. ...

I have been waiting for an update to the Nikon D700 for the better part of a year. During that time, I have sold some DX lenses and bought FX lenses in preparation. The delays were many and I almost picked up a D700 on several occasions and even looked around for a used D3s. I wasn’t in a hurry and still happy with the images my trusty D90 was producing. In the end, the wait was worth it as the D800 looks like a fantastic camera. I think the official specification surprised a lot of people. 36 megapixels, the fancy autofocus and metering from the D4, top notch video, and two models to choose from. I did a rundown of the...

The Nikon D800 and sister model the D800E were announced to much fanfare. It looks like a winner but like all gadgets it is not perfect. One of the first thing people ask is if it’s as good as the D700 when shooting at high ISO. The rule of thumb is that as pixel density increases, and thus physical pixel size decreases, the noise in an image will increase. There is more to this, but as a general rule that holds true. The 12mp sensors in the D700, D3, and D3s have shown that shooting in available light at high ISO values is possible and can produce stunning results. Here are the pixel sizes for several of Nikon’s cameras:...

The D800 and D800E are now official and all the rumor and speculation about specs can end. There seems to be new debate about whether 36MP is too many, if the E model (without the optical low-pass, anti-alias filter) makes any sense, and if the D4 is worth the money now that this camera is out. In short: no, yes, and yes. I may elaborate later but for now that is sufficient. If anyone cares, I think the D800 is going to be an excellent camera and I have already put a deposit on mine. I wouldn’t be buying something I don’ t think is a good buy. The D800 isn’t perfect, but it certainly is an upgrade over my current D90 and...